Fake Boyfriend
by TheConreteBlonde
Summary: Rose and Bella have had it with Alice's boyfriend. He is the only one who can turn their best friend into a complete mess, so they create "Aaron" a myspace page. They hire a replacement...what happens when he turns out to be meant for Rose? Edward/Rosalie
1. Chapter 1

**hey, I've been writing this story for a while now, and I recently just found this website, so I decided that I would try it out. I hope that you enjoy my stories, and please umm... "review". So I hope nobody minds but I mixed up the characters in my story.**

"Who would buy something like that?" Rosalie Hale grabbed the _Elle _magazine her friend Bella Swan was holding. It was open to a page full of hideous black-and-white dresses that looked like they'd walked out of an _Alice and Wonderland _nightmare - all checkerboard patterns and ridiculously poufy skirts. It was only one month until prom, and neither of them had a dress yet. But if this was the junk the fashion world was offering, Rosalie thought she might be better off without one. "I wouldn't even wear these on a dare."

"Please. You've never taken a dare in your life," Bella pointed out, leaning back in the blue vinyl booth at Fiona's Bagel and Coffee Shop, sipping her Cappuccino. All around them groups of kids from Forks High sipped their coffees and chowed down on yummy chocolate desserts. In the evening, it was a favourite hangout spot for High school students and the cooler of eighth graders.

"It's true," Jasper Whitlock added from across the table, gesturing with a decadent-looking forkful of chocolate cake.

Bella blushed fiercely under her pale skin, and she pulled her long brown hair over her shoulder so she could busy herself with tugging at it, her dark brown eyes fixed on her half eaten chocolate donut. Rosalie had come to recognize it as a nervous gesture, one often inspired by Jasper. Even though the two of them had been neighbours since they were on tricycles, Bella had been harbouring a huge crush on Jasper for the past couple of years. Jasper, however, was totally and completely oblivious.

"I've taken a dare!" Rosalie protested, snatching the fork from Jasper's hand. She took a huge bite from the cake and pushed the plate back across the table. "Okay so I don't like people telling me what to do. That's not news." Rosalie pulled her longs legs up underneath her on the bench. She tossed the mag aside and picked up her black-and-white cookie, taking a bite out of the white side. Slumping down, back next to Bella, she moved her head until she found a comfortable position - one that kept her high, thick blonde ponytail from jabbing into the back of her head. "Where the hell is Alice already?"

Alice and Rosalie had been best friends since they shared a desk pod together in first grade, and when they met Jasper and Bella in middle school, the four melded together into a perfect little foursome. Even though Jasper didn't always chill with them now, they were still really close and had promised Alice they would meet to talk about prom, since, naturally, they were all going together. "You told her Fiona's right? Not Starbucks?"

"Why would we ever tell her Starbucks? We never go to Starbucks. It's evil," Jasper said, glaring out the window at the new shop that had gone up across the street last winter.

"Please. You're so addicted to their Frappuccinos," Rose scoffed.

"They do make a mean Frappuccino," Jasper agreed, staring into his plain coffee.

"Jasper! God!" Rose whacked his arm. "Fiona's right _there._"

They all glanced over at the elderly woman behind the counter, who seemed to live in her shop. She was currently counting out change for Jessica Stanley, one of their classmates. Normally loud and totally obnoxious, Jessica waited patiently, snapping her gun as Fiona counted out her pennies one by one. Everyone was patient for Fiona.

"It's not like she can hear us," Bella said, lowering her voice.

"She turns her hearing aid down when the place is this jam packed," Jasper added, shoving his long blonde hair away from his large grey eyes.

"Jesus, it's not even really that full Jasper," Rose scoffed.

"Whatever Blondie," Jasper replied, licking his fork.

"You're not exactly a brunette yourself you reject," Rose snapped impatiently.

"Tell me how you really feel," Jasper shot back, smoothing his hair again.

Just then the front door opened and in walked their significant fourth, Alice Cullen. Tonight, Alice looked as perfect as ever in a light red turtle neck sweater, white skinny jeans and black ankle boots. Her deathly pale skin was blemish free her straight hair pushed back with a red headband and tiny diamonds shined in her ears.

"Omigod! You guys are so gonna love me!" Alice squealed, rushing over to their table. She slapped a purple binder down on the table with the words _Prom _scrawled across in big glitter letters.

"Uh, you really want to bring that thing out in public?" Rose asked as Alice scooted in next to Jasper. It was Alice's infamous Prom Planner, which she'd been working on since seventh grade.

"Uh, yeah, I do. Since it had inside..." Alice rifled through the many colourful, bent pages filled with dresses, jewellery, shoes, flowers, hairstyles and other random pages she'd collected, and yanked a yellow sheet out from the back. "Ta-da!" she announced, holding it up with a huge grin. "One receipt for a white Mercedes stretch limo!"

"What!" Rose gasped, grabbing the page.

"I booked it this afternoon. It's perfect and it's all ours," Alice said giddily. "It fits four couples, so we're all in!"

"Al, this is off the hook!"

Rose saw the rental fee total at the bottom of the page and whistled under her breath. None of them could afford this on their own. Jasper's father was an art collector, his mother owned a small diner on main street. Bella's father was the Chief of Police, and made a small earning. Her father worked at the bank, her mother sold makeup and cosmetic's, and performed in the theatre performances.

"Um, Alice? This is steeper than Mount Everest."

"It's already paid for," Alice said, waving a hand. "I got graduation money from my grandparents, it was about four times more than I thought it would be."

"You're kidding?" Bella said. Alice's grandparents were old actor's, who used to star in black and white movies, her father, Carlisle, was a surgeon, and her mother, Esme, had a cookbook published. Her grandparents were always bestowing insane gifts on their grandchildren, Alice and Cynthia, Alice's eight year old sister. "Alice that's amazing."

"In that case, wanna pay for my tux, too?" Jasper joked, gulping down his coffee.

"Why not? I paid for Mike's," Alice said, grabbing Bella's unused fork and digging into Jasper's cake.

Bella, Rose and Jasper exchanged a look of doom. "You didn't," Rose said.

Alice shrugged. "That's what people do when they're in a mature relationship, Rose," She replied, taking on the tone of a kindergarten teacher.

"Yeah, or when one person is totally taking advantage of the other," Jasper muttered. A comment Alice ignored, as usual.

Rosalie, however, was thoroughly irritated. Alice was valedictorian of their class, captain of the girls softball team; she never drank, smoked or cursed and had recently received a commendation from the mayor of Forks for her volunteer work with Meals on Wheels, She'd been accepted into Stanford University for early admission. She was the class's crown jewel. Her boyfriend, Mike Newton , however, was the class screw-up. Mike was constantly late, skipped class, rolled joints and talking back to teachers just to prove he could. Everyone knew he was a jerk, but Alice maintained that he was just misunderstood and that nobody knew Mike the way she did. Unfortunately, Rose had a feeling it was the other way around : Everyone in the world could read Mike Newton like a book - a seriously trashy, bargain-bin novel, to be exact - but he had Alice totally and completely fooled.

"He just spent all his money on his car, so he was totally tapped out," Alice explained."And my date is not going to prom in jeans a T-shirt."

"Well, he should have saved. Everyone knows how important prom is to you," Rosalie said. "Or is he the only one who never been taken on a page-by-page tour of that?" she asked, motioning to the prom book.

"Hey. Do not dis the book," Alice scolded placing a protective hand on the front cover. "And yes, he has seen it. In fact, he got the exact tuxedo I picked out for him from the sophomore year Teen Vogue prom issue," she added proudly. "Speaking of which, has Eric rented his tux yet?"

Rosalie took a deep breath. She had been hoping to avoid this conversation, but she should have known better. "Um... Eric and I kind of broke up." Rosalie picked at a random crusty stain on the vinyl.

"What? When?" Alice demanded.

"Did you know?" Bella asked, reaching across the table to smack his arm.

"Uh ... I talked to Eric this morning," Jasper replied, rubbing his arm and looking snagged.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Bella demanded.

"Hello, I'm a guy. We have a code." Jasper rolled his eyes.

"Rose, what happened?" Alice interrupted, "I thought-"

Rosalie held up her hands, and her friends fell silent. "We broke up last night. No big. It had to happen eventually."

She cracked off the black half of her cookie, folded it, and shoved the whole thing into her mouth, looking out the window in hopes of putting a quick end to the subject. Across the street, Starbucks was overflowing with freshmen and sophomores who weren't cool enough yet to get the understated allure of Fiona's.

"Rose what happened? Why didn't you call?" Bella asked.

"Are you okay?" Alice put in.

"I'm fine," Rosalie said. "We only went out for, like, three weeks. It's not the end of the world."

It wasn't like she could actually tell her friends the truth. Eric had told her he liked her, but said it was pretty clear that she didn't actually like him Every guy Rosalie had gone out with since middle school had said the same thing - or some variation of it.

"He broke up with you didn't he?" Alice asked softly. Then, when Rosalie didn't answer, she groaned. "Rose, I told you that if you kept picking on him like that-"

Rosalie sighed. They had this conversation ten million times before. Todd Marx had been Rosalie's eighth grade boyfriends. They had gone out for months, and Rosalie had been crazy for him. He was smart, funny, athletic, hot, and totally attentive for an eighth grade boy. Everything she could ever imagined wanting in a boyfriend. And then, out of the blue, he'd broken up with her for another girl, and Rosalie had been crushed. But she had gotten over it and Todd had moved away and that was that. Rosalie thought it was mildly ridiculous that her friends thought that this one thing affected every relationship she'd had since. Rosalie never thought about Todd except when Bella and Alice brought him up, well, almost never.

"Can we _please_ change the subject?" Rosalie asked, staring out the window again. Instantly, her heart dropped and she dropped her cookie. She could not be seeing what she thought she was seeing. No way. No ... freaking ... way. She kicked Jasper under the table and nodded towards Starbucks.

Jasper looked out the window, and his grey eyes grew wide. "Oh my god," he said.

"What?" Alice said, looking over.

"Alice! Don't!" Rosalie said automatically. Rose thought she was going to hyperventilate. Mike Newton, the guy Alice had been dating on-and-off since freshmen year, the guy she was so in love with she was somehow blinded to the fact he was a total sleezeball, had just walked out of Starbucks with his arm around Lauren Mallory - a sophomore who took her imitation of trashy celelbutante fashion way too far. And now, he was pressing her up against the brick wall of the building, shoving his tongue so far down her throat, she was gonna need the heimlich.

And Alice had seen the whole thing. Her face paled, if possible, and she made a choking noise in the back of her throat.

"Oh my God," Bella said finally, catching on. She looked fretfully at Alice. "Al, it's-"

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no," Alice rambled.

She shoved herself out of the booth and ran outside. For a split second, Rose was too stunned to move. Then she, Bella and Jasper all jumped up and followed. Alice stormed to the corner, where the evening traffic was lazily making its way down the road.

"Mike!" Alice yelled at the top of her lungs.

Across the street, Mike sprang away from Lauren. Alice quickly looked both ways, somehow judging that the oncoming Jeep Wrangler was not going to hit her, and dived into the street.

"Alice!" Rosalie screeched, shoving her hands into the pockets of her black jacket and running after her friend.

Jasper ran out ahead of Rosalie and threw his arms up to stop traffic. The Jeep slammed on its brakes and squealed to a stop.

"What the hell are you doing?" the driver shouted.

"Sorry! Crisis in the making here," Jasper said. He waved Bella and Rosalie across the street, then quickly followed.

"What are you doing?" Alice cried as all the kids on the sidewalk stopped to stare.

Mike backed away from Lauren as if she was on fire and gaped at Alice. His light blue eyes looked around wildly, as if looking for an escape route. Rosalie only hoped he would try to get past her. Then she could punch him right in the infuriatingly hot face.

"Alice!" Mike said, stunned.

"Oh, please. Half the school is here," Rosalie blurted, her hands curled into fists. "Did you really think you wouldn't get caught?"

"Back off," Mike snapped at Rosalie. "This is none of your business."

Rosalie gritted her teeth and fumed.

"What's going on?" Alice asked shakily.

Mike looked imploringly at Alice. "Baby... can we go somewhere and talk... alone?"

"Hey!" Lauren protested, crossing her skinny arms over her barely-there tank top. "You told me you broke up with her."

Rosalie's heart plummeted as Alice's eyes filled with tears. "What? Mike ... you're breaking up with me?"

Mike glanced around and seemed to realize there was no way out of this. He looked at the ground, running a hand threw his spiked blonde hair and shook his head. "I'm sorry, Alice . . . I'm with Lauren now."

"With her? _With_ her?" Alice blurted. "For how long?"

"About a month," Lauren said smugly, sliding her arm around Mikes waist and snuggling into his side.

"The last-" Alice buckled slightly, as if she'd been kicked in the knee's. All air left Rosalie's lungs and Bella stepped over and put her arm around Alice. Alice started convulsing, and Rosalie took her other side, and watched the tears stream from Alice's small hazel eyes and glared at Mike.

"Ali, please ..." Mike said, releasing himself from Lauren's grasp. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I-"

Rosalie stepped in front of Alice and Bella. "Walk away, walk away right now," she said through her teeth.

Mike snorted a laugh. "You can't tell me what to do."

"I think we just did," Jasper said, stepping up between Mike and the girls and getting right in Mike's face.

Jasper had aproxamitely four inchs and twenty pounds on Mike, and a flash of fear hit his face. Coward. Mike raised his hands and backed off. Rosalie knew he welcomed the excuse not to deal. Just like all the times he'd broken up with Alice - via note, e-mail, text message, a message on her voice mail. It was always the most cowardly way possible. And yet, Alice took him back, Every time. No matter what.

Well, maybe that was all about the change. Alice couldn't forgive him this time. This time he'd _actually _cheated on her. And half the school had witnessed it.

"Alice, are you okay?" Bella asked as Mike and Lauren walked away.

"He's been cheating on me for a month!" Alice blurted, hugging Bella and clinging to her light green sweater. "A month! How it that even possible?"

"I know Al, I'm sorry," Bella said, stroking her hair.

Rosalie glanced around at the freshmen and sophomores, who were still looking and eavesdropping. Rose glared at all of them and gently tugged Alice towards the street.

"And with Lauren Mallory!" Alice ranted. "She's a ... a ... "

_Skank? Bitch? Ho? Whore ? Easy McSlutty? _Rosalie thought.

".. sophomore!" Alice wailed.

Bella frowned sympathetically. "We know, Al."

"It's gonna be okay." Rosalie put a hand on her friends back. Her heart felt sick, worse that when Eric had dumped her last night. This was Alice. Her best friend since Elementary. Alice's heartache had more of an effect on Rosalie that her own did. "Come on. Let's get out of here," Rose said.

"I'll go get our stuff and meet up from you guys," Jasper said, jogging over to Fiona's.

Rosalie led the two girls over to her car, and smiled at Alice. "Don't worry Al," Bella said as they headed down the street. "Everything's gonna be okay."

"Yeah it is, if it isn't I'm going to go over there and personally kick his ass. Believe me," Rosalie said, determined. "That idiot has broken your heard for the last time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey, so heres the next chapter. R&R!**

_Pick up tray with both hands. Place change on tray. Do not drop change. Do not... drop..._

Bella managed to transfer the coins and bills from her sweaty palm onto the side of her plastic lunch tray without overturning the whole thing. Se breathed a sigh of relief and smiled in triumph at the cafeteria lady. The woman looked like she was about to phone the school shrink.

Bella managed an apologetic smile and stepped aside.

"And then out of nowhere, my dad's like, 'If you don't get all A's and B's on your final report card you're not going to LA," Jasper babbled to her as he stepped up to the register. "I mean, how wrong is that? Me and the guys already booked the tickets."

As always, he was totally oblivious of Bella's extreme stress – all of which was caused by him. Bella pretty much lived not to do anything embarrassing in front of Jasper. As long as she didn't, she figured one day her fantasy of him waking up and realizing she was his one true love might actually come true. She knew it was a thin strand of logic, but still, she had to cling to something.

"Don't you think?" Jasper asked.

"What? Oh yeah," Bella replied, not really knowing what she was agreeing to.

"So then I'm like, I am so totally screwed. I mean, there's no way I can pull a C up to a B in calc. Garfield sucks, giving us that much homework," Jasper continued. He paid for his lunch, pocketed the change and picked up his tray with one hand. He clearly had no problem. "We're graduating in a month. Is he some kind of sadist?"

"You could just not do it," Bella suggested.

"We're you not listening to me? I have to get a B or no Cali this summer. I have to do it," Jasper told her as they started down the center aisle of the cafeteria. Bella glanced at him from the corner of her eye and smiled. As silly as it was, she loved the way he looked in this light. The platinum streaks in his wheat blonde hair seemed brighter, and the sun brought out the sharpness of his steely gray eyes. The way the shadows brought out...

"So will you?"

Bella stopped walking abruptly, and her soda almost slid off the edge of her tray. Luckily, Jasper caught it in time.

"Whoops. That was close," he said with a grin. There was a tiniest little chip in his front tooth from a rollerblading incident he had when he was nine. He always touched his tongue to it when he was concentrating really hard. It was totally adorable.

"Will I what?" Bella asked, balancing the tray against her hip. She nervously pulled her hair over her shoulder.

"Help me. With Calc. After school," Jasper said in a voice that made it perfectly clear he had said that already.

Bella had planned on finishing her book after school, she was at a very climatic part, but Jasper was looking at her with his big, hypnotizing eyes and she could never turn him down.

"Sure. Want to meet up in the library after school?" she said, tugging on her hair again.

Jasper grinned. "What would I do without you?"

_I don't know, but right now you should kiss me,_ she thought. Then she blushed and turned, heading for their normal spot.

They always sat in the same place, right next to the huge glass windows and in the corner, away from prying ears. Bella's knees were quaking a bit after her recent space-out, and she couldn't have been more relieved when she slid safely into a chair. Unfortunately, the vibe at the table wasn't a happy one. Alice slumped in her seat like she had all week, listlessly toying with her food while Rosalie eyed her sadly. This had to stop. Bella had never seen her friend so depressed for so many days in a row. Usually, her and Mike would have kissed and made up by now – not that Bella wanted that to happen. She just wished she could figure out some other way to cheer Alice up.

"Hi, guys!" Bella chirped brightly.

"Hey." Alice's voice was barely a whisper.

"What's up?" Jasper asked, shaking his chocolate milk. He looked around at the girls hopefully, as he'd been doing all week. Bella knew he was waiting for them to all snap out of it already. Jasper was a good friend to them, but he knew nothing about the female mourning period after the end of an intense and long relationship.

"Nothing," Alice replied in another near whisper, staring out the window.

Jasper sighed, shrugged and grabbed a fry. Bella saw him look at Alice out of the corner of his eye, and she knew he was trying to figure out a way to make her happy again. This only made Bella love him more.

The door to the cafeteria opened, and Bella and Rosalie both looked up automatically, as anyone facing the door did when there was a latecomer. It was Lauren Mallory and she was wearing a very familiar green sweater. Bella's face prickled with heat, and she looked over at Rosalie. Instantly, she knew Rose had recognized it to. They had, after all, spent two hours in the hot, Christmas-time crowded mall helping Alice pick it out. And another half hour helping her select the perfect manly wrapping paper for it.

"Oh I don't believe this...," Rosalie snarled through gritted teeth.

"What?" Alice asked, turning around. Bella wouldn't have thought it possible, but Alice's skin actually grew sallower before her eyes. "Wait. Is that the-?"

"The sweater you bought Mike for Christmas?" Rosalie fumed, shaking her head.

Alice looked over at Mike's table, where he sat with the rest of his friends. There was Jacob Black, who wore his pants so low, you could see his entire ass, Tyler Crowley who did more drugs that TI, Quil Arteara who smoked like a chimney and never shaved, and then there was Embry Call, who constantly wore shirts with offensive language and graphics on them. Mike instantly locked eyes with Alice, as if he had some 'Alice-radar', then glanced over at Lauren, who was busy smiling and chatting with some of her friends near the door. He was out of his chair like a shot and walked right over to Alice's table.

"Alice," he said, his blue eyes pained.

"You gave her my sweater?" Alice asked in a thick voice.

"No. I swear. She must have taken it out of my dresser," Mike said. As if he cared about Alice's feelings. As if he actually had a conscience.

"She was in your room?" Alice half whimpered.

Mike pushed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans and looked around at the others. "Alice, can we please talk for just a second?"

Alice remained quiet, and Bella's hopes rose that she was finally going to ignore Mike.

"Can we ... please?"

"Fine," Alice said, standing.

She and Mike walked to the other end of the cafeteria, near the vending machines.

"Unbelievable," Rosalie said, shaking her head so her blonde hair shook down her back like a waterfall. Bella looked at Rosalie in carefully hidden jealousy. She hated that Rosalie was so beautiful. With the blonde hair, and the blue eyes and the tall and curvy physique, the girl was a high class beauty. She tuned back in when Rose spoke again. "I can't believe she's actually talking to him."

She got up quietly and walked around the table, heading for the vending machines – about three feet from where Alice and Mike were now standing.

"Rosalie!" Bella hissed.

Rosalie turned around and shot her a wide eyed look, telling her to shut up. Bella deflated and turned back to her food. It wasn't like she was going to argue. Rosalie was going to do what Rosalie wanted to do anyway.

Over at the vending machines, Rosalie made a good show of pulling out some change and pretending like she was totally baffled by the myriad of candy choices. Meanwhile, Mike and Alice kept talking, to engrossed I their conversation to notice the eavesdropper. Finally, Rosalie aggressively punched in a number, grabbed her Twix bar, and stormed back to the table. She yanked out the chair and dropped into it with a huff.

"Okay, that guy should be a politician," Rosalie said. "He is all slime."

"Why? What's going on?" Jasper asked, finally buying in to the mini soap opera.

"First of all, he said he still cares about her and always will," Rosalie grumbled. "And that he'd never give the sweater she gave him to another girl."

"Well, that's good right?" Jasper asked, before chugging his chocolate milk.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "Then he told her she should move on. He thinks she's too good for him and she can do better," she whispered furiously.

Bella snorted. "Well, he's got that right."

"Yeah, but to him it's a total joke. He knew she was going to disagree which of course she did. 'I don't understand why your so hard on yourself. I love you, you know that,'" she said, doing a perfect imitation of Alice's bell-like voice. "He totally keeps her hanging. I swear I could just— Urgh!" she curled her hands into fists and grunted in frustration.

"Okay, okay. Calm down," Bella said, putting her hand over Rosalie's.

"She can't take him back," Rosalie said, shaking her head. "She can't be second to Lauren Skank-Ho Mallory. We need to stage an intervention. Threaten her with something."

Bella rolled an empty straw wrapper between her fingers and laughed. "Like what?"

"I don't know ... maybe we should tell her we won't be her friends anymore! Freeze her out," Rosalie announced. "Tough love, like in that DVD we watched in health class sophomore year."

"Um ... Alice isn't a crack addict," Bella pointed out.

"No. But she is a Mike addict," Rosalie shot back.

Bella's heart dropped. Rosalie couldn't be serious. At least, Bella hoped she wasn`t. Because usually, when Rosalie came up with a plan, she stuck to it. And she made everyone around her stick to it as well.

"We can't do that," Jasper said, crumpling up the empty milk container. "It's way too mean. And besides, none of us could actually go through with it.

Rosalie's face dropped and she slumped. "You're right. But we have to do something to make her realize she doesn't need this jackass," Rosalie said, glancing over at them. Bella saw Alice nod at something Mike was saying, and the very sight made her tense.

Bella shook her head. "Alice's _way_ too good for him. If she goes back to him, it'll be a total disaster."

Jasper nodded, his mouth full of fries.

"Good, at least we all see it," Rosalie said, setting her jaw in a determined way. She pulled a leather boot clad foot up on the chair and rested her chin on her knee. "Now we just have to come up with a way to make _her _see it."

**Short, but important. **

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**REVIEW.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Surprised? Yeah, you should be. I've been neglecting this story for so long, and when I recently checked my email and read all the reviews you guys've put, I was touched. Touched enough that I've decided to finish this story. **

**You can all thank yourselves (or the reviewers, if you never reviewed), but most of all, I'd like to thank **_**'**__**Mia Arabella' **_**– because her words (though wrote in annoyance) were moving, and a main factor of why I've written this chapter. **

**PS. I made if extra long, just for you, Mia Arabella.**

* * *

"Do you really think empowerment-movie night is going to help?" Bella asked, sifting through the pile of DVD's Rosalie had rented.

"It's just a preliminary plan. Until I come up with the real one," Rosalie said, setting a huge bowl of popcorn on the table in her basement.

The basement door opened. "Hi honey, I'm home!" Rosalie's mother trilled jokingly as she tromped down the stairs.

She was wearing one of her more colourful head scarves, with her wavy blonde hair sticking out in two perfect triangles on either side of her head from her ears to her shoulders. Wooden monstrosities dangled from her earlobes, and her makeup was even more elaborate than usual. As always, Rosalie's mom had gone all-out for her work party that evening. It was one of the hazards of working at the regional theatre. There was, apparently, allot of pressure to look as kooky as possible.

"I just thought you might want some snacks!" She lifted a grease stained brown bag. "Leftovers from the cast party!"

"Ooh! I knew I loved you for a reason." Rosalie grabbed the bag from her mother. Inside was a stack of white takeout plates with clear covers. Mini hotdogs, mini quiches and mini spring rolls. She tore off the lids and started laying the food out on the table.

"Hi, Mrs. Hale," Bella said, standing up. She walked over and hugged Rosalie's mom.

"Hello, dear!" Rosalie's mother exclaimed, high on life. "What are you girls doing? Movie night? Got anything good?" She inspected the array of films. "Oh! Kate Winslet? I just love her. The actress who starred in my production of _Twelfth Night_ last month reminded me so much of her."

"Cool, mom. And we'd love to hear all about it. Really. But Alice's gonna be here any second so ..." Rosalie advanced on her mother, steering her back towards the stairs.

"Oh. Okay. Well if you girls need anything – "

"We won't," Rosalie said, patting her mother on the back. "But thanks for the snacks."

Her mother's shoulders drooped and the hundreds of plastic bracelets clinked together. "Okay, well, I'll be upstairs."

"Bye!" Rosalie smiled until her mother was gone, then turned and rolled her eyes. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her figure hugging black sweater and slumped onto the couch.

"I don't know why you're so mean to her," Bella said with a sigh, munching on a mini hotdog.

"Bella, you know that she'd stay down here all night if I didn't kick her out," Rosalie replied, grabbing a spring roll. "She thinks she's one of us."

"Well, she's cooler than my mom," Bella said, pulling her long hair into a ponytail.

Rosalie laughed. "I'd give _anything_ to have your mom."

Bella's mother worked as an image consultant at a huge media building in Phoenix. She was stylish, sophisticated and un-meddling. In other words, the exact opposite of Helena Hale.

"Yeah, well, if I ever see her, I'll tell her you said that," Bella deadpanned – her parents had divorced before Bella had a full mouth of teeth, and she'd lived with her father in Forks ever since she was four years old.

The doorbell rang, and Bella and Rosalie both jumped up. "Finally!"

"I got it!" Rosalie shouted.

She barrelled up the stairs with Bella on her heels and slid across the hallway in her socks. But when she got there, her younger brother, Seth, was already talking to Alice, who was eying him from the front step, as most people eyed Rosalie's book-loving, baby-faced brother. His brown hair was, as always, slicked back from his face with some thick gel, and he was wearing a T-shirt that read TALK NERDY TO ME_. _Rosalie wanted to groan just looking at him. The kid could have been somewhat cute and maybe halfway cool if he wasn't so intent on being a dork.

"I got it, loser," Rosalie told him, hip checking him out of the way.

"Shut up," Seth grumbled, blushing slightly. "See you later, I'll be in the living room," he told them.

"Don't care," Rosalie shot back. Seth narrowed his brown eyes and pouted his lips– exactly the same shape as Rosalie's – and went.

"Bye, Seth," Alice said, polite as ever.

She stepped inside, and Rosalie closed the door. "Okay, what do you want to watch first? The Holiday? She's the Man? Erin Brockovich?"

"Alice?" Bella said uncertainly. "Are you alright?"

Rosalie's heart clenched and she turned around. Tears were streaming down Alice's face. She dropped her Kate Spade overnight bag on the floor and wailed. "He's going to prom with her!"

"Omigod, Ali!" Bella said, "How did you ... Who told you?"

"She did! I ran into her at the mall, and she was showing off about it!" Alice cried. "He's taking her to the prom in the tux I picked out. The one I paid for!"

"What an asshole," Rosalie said through her teeth. The prom meant everything to Alice. They all knew this, especially Mike. It wasn't like Bella wanted Alice to go with him, but for him to ask someone else, and for her to find out this way, was devastating. "Am I allowed to kill him yet?" Rosalie asked.

"I hate him," Alice said as she gasped for air. "I hate him so much!"

As Bella hugged Alice, Rosalie saw something move from the corner of her eye. Her brother was standing just o the other side of the open doorway to the living room, listening to every word that she said. She shot him a look that could have melted steel and put an arm around Alice's shoulder.

"Come on. Let's go downstairs," Rosalie said.

"'Kay," Alice replied, her voice all watery.

After about ten minutes of incoherence and sobbing, Alice finally calmed down. She looked around the neat basement with heavy lidded eyes and sniffled.

"What movies did you get?" she asked, pulling her hands into the sleeves of her cardigan.

"We don't have to watch anything you if you don't want to," Bella said.

"Yes, we do! She needs a distraction," Rosalie put in, reaching for the DVDs.

"True," Alice said, weakly.

Rosalie got up and popped _She's the Man _into the DVD player. Just as the previews were starting up, the door to the basement opened and Rosalie saw her brother tan feet on the stairs.

"Did we invite you down here?" Rosalie shouted.

"I'm just bringing you guys some soda," Seth replied. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs with a bottle of Pepsi and three plastic cups. "Seemed like you could maybe use something to drink."

"Thanks, Seth," Bella said, cutting off the insult Rosalie was about to spew.

"I love Pepsi," Alice said blankly.

"Well there you go," Seth placed everything on the table and backed up. "I'll be upstairs."

"Again, don't care," Rosalie replied.

Seth shot her an irritated look, but turned around and retreated.

"Rosalie, he was just trying to be nice," Alice said.

"N. He just has no friends to hang out with on a Friday night," Rosalie said.

She got up, took the stairs two at a time, and latched the lock on the door. On her way back down, she turned off the lights, and then settled back on the huge leather sectional between her friends. It was time to put Operation Distract and Empower Alice into motion, no mare distractions.

* * *

Rosalie tossed a few kernels of popcorn into her mouth as Amanda Bynes slapped her idiot ex-boyfriend across the cheek. She smiled slyly; it was the perfect scene for Alice. Amanda is fed up with her boyfriend's treatment and refuses to talk to him anymore. It was an inspiring choice, if she did think so herself. She glanced over at Alice, half-expecting to see her grinning with romantic inspiration. Alice, however, was staring at the floor, chewing on her thumbnail.

"What's the matter?" Rosalie asked, grabbing the remote to pause the movie. "You're not even watching!"

"I know," Alice said. She pulled her knees up and sat back. "I can't stop thinking about Mike. What do you think he's doing tonight?"

_Uh, getting dirty with a certain whore? _Rosalie thought.

"I don't know, Alice," Bella said.

Alice bit her lip. "Do you think we could still get back together?"

Rosalie sat up so fast; she dumped half the bowl of popcorn on the cold wood floor. "What?"

"Rosalie," Bella said in a warning tone.

"You just told us he asked Lauren to the prom. What are you thinking?" Rosalie asked.

"I know," Alice said. She ran her hands through her spiky hair. "I know. It's just ... I love him so much. Lauren's not going to make him happy. And the prom is still a few weeks away ..."

"Omigod, do you even hear yourself?" Rosalie blurted, gripping the couch cushions at her side. "You're worried that he's not gonna be happy? You're the one who's miserable!"

"You don't have to attack her," Bella said, zipping her track hoodie all the way up as if for protection.

"I was just ... talking," Alice added, averting her gaze.

"You're talking about getting back together with him after he cheated on you. After he asked someone else to the prom," Rosalie pointed out. She shoved herself off the couch and started pacing in front of the TV, where Amanda Bynes was in mid run. "I mean, come on. When does it end? Forget all the _little _breakups," She raised her hand to tick off the big ones. "You took him back after he skipped the play last year. You took him back after the sweet sixteen debacle. You took him back after he dumped you the day of your Stanford interview. Remember how freaked you were? You might've not gotten in because of him! And now he cheats on you and rubs it in your face and _still_ want him? When are you going to see that you deserve more than Mike the Dyke?"

"Oh, that's very mature," Alice sniffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Calm down, Rose," Bella said, scooting forward to grab her glass of Pepsi.

"Why should I?" Rosalie said. "Seriously. It's time for an intervention."

"Don't say something you'll regret," Bella said in her condescending tone. "I mean, if you rip him to shreds and then they get back together—''

"They are not getting back together!" Rosalie protested with her hands on her hips.

"Uh, I'm right here." Alice raised her hand, sounding frustrated. "And you can't tell me what to do, Rose."

"Well, I should be able to," Rosalie replied, her blood boiling. "Clearly you're incapable of making your own decisions. I want you to be happy, and all Mike does is make you miserable. You relationship with him is totally one-sided."

Alice's face screwed up into a scowl and she stood, facing off with Rosalie over the coffee table. "Oh, please. What do you know about relationships Rosalie? You haven't had one that's lasted more than a month since Todd! And, people you've slept with one every month don't count!" Rosalie's fists clenched. "Mike and I have been together for four years!"

"Actually, if you factor in all the times you guys have broken up, it's probably only been two years," Rosalie shot back.

"You guys -''

"Well, at least I'm not always reeling guys in, then torturing and screwing them until they finally dump me!" Alice replied.

Rosalie felt as though she'd been slapped. "What?"

"Oh God, Rose. I'm sorry," Alice said. She briefly covered her mouth with her hands. "I didn't mean that."

Rosalie had to sit down again. Was that what her friends thought she did? Systematically fooled around with boys?

"I'm sorry, Rosalie," Alice repeated. "Really."

Bella looked at Rosalie hopefully. Rosalie took a deep breath and combed her fingers through her thick hair. She was a champion at the uncalled-for-word-bomb. There was no way she could hold it against Alice without being a hypocrite. Especially in Alice's current state of mind.

"It's okay," Rosalie said, blindly reaching for Alice's hand, and squeezing whatever part of her she grabbed.

Alice took a deep breath and began to fold up the afghan she'd been huddled under all night long. "I should just go."

"What? We haven't had any ice cream yet," Bella protested.

"I'm not really in the mood for ice cream," Alice said apologetically.

Rosalie suddenly felt desperate. This whole night had been intended to distract Alice and help her get over Mike and it hadn't worked in the slightest.

"Do go, Alice," Rosalie said. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to attack you. I just ... I don't want you to go backward. I mean, you be at Stanford next year. It's gonna be a whole new world, you know? New people, new _guys_ ... Why would you want to go backwards?"

Alice's eyes watered as she shrugged. "I love him. I'm sorry I can't just turn that off."

She took a step past Rosalie and grabbed her coat and overnight bag off the floor. "Thanks for trying guys. I do appreciate it. I just kind of want my own bed right now, you know?"

Bella and Rosalie exchanged a defeated look. "We know."

They walked Alice upstairs, and Rosalie gave her a hug before sending her off to her car. When Rosalie closed the door, her shoulders sagged.

"How are we ever going to get her over him if she doesn't want to?" she asked.

Bella shook her head. "I don't know."

Rosalie stared at the expensive tile in the foyer. "You know, sometimes I don't even sleep with my boyfriends. It's just stupid rumours."

"I know."

Bella put her arm around Rosalie's back and Rosalie rested the side of her head on top of Bella's. Together they shuffled towards the kitchen – redone in all chrome with massive appliances. Her parents had redone it last winter. Rosalie yanked open the giant freezer and took out a few pints of ice cream while Bella went for spoons and bowls and toppings. Within two minutes they had put together a pair of towering sundaes. Rosalie took a huge bite, dripping chocolate sauce all over her hand. She grabbed a napkin from the table and sighed.

"Alright. That's it," she said, sitting up straight.

"What's it?" Bella asked warily, almost losing some of the strawberry ice cream out the corner of her mouth.

"We are going to come up with a plan to keep Alice away from Mike," Rosalie said, determined.

"Like what? Kidnapping?" Bella asked.

Rosalie narrowed her blue eyes, imagining Mike tied up in a rat-infested basement somewhere, wearing nothing but dirty rags and begging for mercy. "Nothing that drastic," she said. She grabbed her bowl, a spoon and a few more napkins. "Come on. Let's go up to my room and brain storm."

"But what about the movie?" Bella asked, stalling.

"Screw the movie," Rosalie said, shoving another spoonful of chocolate ice cream into her mouth. "This is so much more important. We have to save Alice."

* * *

"Maybe we could find her a therapist, you know?" Rosalie babbled, pacing back and forth behind Bella, who was sitting on Rosalie's bed with her laptop. She had to step over piles of clothes, books and random crap all over the floor, and she kept kicking stuff out of her way. "Or a hypnotist! Someone who could deprogram her. Google that!"

"Yeah, sure. I'm on it," Bella said, typing her password into the MySpace login page.

"Not that she'd go, because she doesn't see the point of trying to get over _him_," Rosalie said, looking at the ceiling.

Bella smirked. "You sound like Jasper."

"Oh, crap! I do," Rosalie said, holding her head. "Your little love bug has totally infiltrated my brain," she teased.

"He is not my love bug," Bella blushed, pulling her ponytail over her shoulder to toy with it.

"Whatever you say," Rosalie said, sitting on her desk chair. She crossed her legs and bounced the top one with the ticking of the hallway clock. "I don't know why you don't just ask him to prom already. I mean, you're as bad as Alice, except she can't get the guts up to _lose_ the guy and you can't get up the guts to _get_ the guy. Why don't you just ask him to prom? What's the worst that could happen?"

"Umm... he could run screaming in the other direction and never speak to me again, which would break up our group and change our lives forever," Bella recited automatically.

"Oh. Yeah. That would suck," Rosalie replied, looking irritated that Bella actually made some sense. "Whatever- back to Alice. What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Bella said lightly. She knew better than to encourage Rosalie. If she did, this rant might sooner or later become an actual plan, and Bella knew from experience that Rosalie's plans rarely worked out for the best. But, sometimes, if she was lucky, Rosalie could just babble with no direction until she tired herself out and the whole thing would come to nothing.

Bella had already navigated to her inbox and was physced to see a message from Soccer_Boy214 at the top of the list. He was supposed to be critiquing her latest short story. She met Soccer_Boy214 on an art site and learned he was a Californian who loved writing just as much as she – and they were both in need of an unbiased opinion from someone outside of classes. They'd started sending their work back and forth and Bella felt that her writing had much improved, thanks to his comments. She crossed her fingers and read his latest message.

"Oh! Maybe we could find a way to make Mike unappealing to her," Rosalie continued, pushing herself off the chair and resuming her pacing. "I mean the guy is hot – I'll give him that. Maybe that's how Alice sees past all the other crap, right? Maybe we could break into his house and shave his head!"

"I draw the line at breaking and entering," Bella said, as she began to read through Soccer_Boy214's message. "Plus, my dad's a policeman, remember?"

_Hey IzzyBelly,_

_This one's amazing, and your character, Carver, definitely has personality. The story line is your best yet, and your setting has improved dramatically. Would it be lame to admit I'm jealous?_

_Soccer_Boy214_

Bella's heart expanded and she could barely contain her grin. This was exactly the message she'd been hoping for.

"Whoa. Who's that?" Rosalie stopped and stared over Bella`s shoulder. Bella glanced at Soccer_Boy214's picture. With his sun kissed waves and friendly smile, he _was_ rather scrumcious. Though she was glad she didn't know him personally – if she did, he'd be Rosalie's in a heartbeat.

"He's just a MySpace friend of mine," Bella said, trying to contain her glee so that Rosalie wouldn`t grill her about it. "He's a writer too. We chat sometimes."

"Omigod. There's no way that's his real picture," Rosalie said. She reached around Bella and scrolled down his page. "He totally stole that off the Abercrombie and Fitch website or something."

"No, he didn't. I asked about the picture. That's totally him," Bella protested.

"No way." Rosalie stood up straight. "No real guy is that hot."

"Do you have any idea how insane you sound? Somebody obviously is that hot because that picture is of somebody," Bella told her.

"Well, it's not Soccer_Boy214. No one that gorgeous has time to be on MySpace," Rosalie said. "Sorry to tell you this, Bella, but he has to be a fake."

Rosalie scoffed, like Bella was ridiculous and paced away. Bella's heart hurt. Why did Rosalie have to tear her down like that? Couldn't Bella ever be right about anything?

"Wait a minute, that's it!" Rosalie announced suddenly.

All the tiny hairs on the back of Bella's neck stood up. "What? What's it?"

"A fake!" Rosalie whirled around, her eyes bright. She grabbed Bella`s shoulder and turned her towards her. "We'll make a guy up for Alice on MySpace! Someone who will totally take her mind off that sleazebag Mike."

Bella's skin tightened as her whole body filled with dread. Crap. Crappity crap crap. "What?"

"Come on! Who knows Alice better than we do? We can create her perfect guy," Rosalie clasped her hands together. We can make him a little bit dangerous, you know, because we know she likes that. But we can also give him a life! Make him interesting! Mike's only interests are smoking, playing three chords on the guitar and being a jackass. We can do _so_ much better than that. And MySpace is the perfect place to do it. We can make him as incredible as we want him to be!"

Bella squirmed in her chair. "Please tell me you're kidding."

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Rosalie asked, slapping her arms to her side.

Bella stared into her friends excited blue eyes. "Unfortunately, no."

"Good," Rosalie said with a grin. "Now, scoot over. We've got work to do."

* * *

**A special thanks to: Edrose, ksbballgirl1,StuckOnBTR13,Kelly-konrad2316,Cindyrella0016,lovewarorwhatever,envyme13 and Mia Arabella for reviewing!**

**R&R PEOPLE. **


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